https://jslhr.pubs.asha.org/article.aspx?articleid=1781282Relevance and Speed of Message Delivery Trade-Offs in Augmentative and Alternative CommunicationThis report is the first in a series of investigations designed to test a theory identifying the effects of conversational trade-offs between selected maxims on public attitudes toward augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) system users and their communication. In the current study, the trade-offs between the relevance of a prestored ...2003-08-01T00:00:00Research ArticleJan L. Bedrosian

Research Article | August 01, 2003

Relevance and Speed of Message Delivery Trade-Offs in Augmentative and Alternative Communication

This report is the first in a series of investigations designed to test a theory identifying the effects of conversational trade-offs between selected maxims on public attitudes toward augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) system users and their communication. In the current study, the trade-offs between the relevance of a prestored message and its speed of delivery were examined. Participating were 96 sales clerks. Twelve scripted videotaped conversational conditions, involving an AAC customer and a clerk at a checkout counter, were used to manipulate message relevance, speed of message delivery, and participant/AAC user gender. Following each assigned viewing, participants completed a questionnaire designed to assess their attitudes toward the AAC user and his or her communication. Significantly higher mean ratings were found for the conditions involving the slowly delivered relevant messages (both preceded by a conversational floorholder and without a floorholder) when compared to the quickly delivered partly relevant message condition. In addition, the condition involving the slowly delivered relevant message with a floorholder yielded significantly higher mean ratings than that without the floorholder. There was no effect for participant/user gender. Modifications of the theory and technological implications are discussed.

Acknowledgments

This work was supported by Research Grant R01 DC03670–02 from the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders. Each author contributed equally to the project. We would like to thank the following consultants for their invaluable contributions to the project: Dallas Johnson, Chris Pennington, Lyn Blyer, David Hartman, Stephen Calculator, John McKenzie, Gus Estrella, Don Nelson, and Richard Wright. Thanks are also extended to our graduate research assistants: Elizabeth Nagler, Steven Gehler, Brooke Sharpe, Barbra Henderson, and Amanda Bussman. Finally, we thank our families for their loving support, especially that of the late Marian Bedrosian.

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